Life in Silly Valley

I've come to recognize something I'm calling the Trump hangover. The day after some crazy *&$# goes down I wake up feeling groggy with an empty sour stomach feeling. Too much adrenaline, too little sleep. But I think it also comes from having borne witness to something really despicable, a feeling that there was a rip in the fabric of reality. But then in the cold harsh light of the new day there is a realization that, despite that rip, nothing is really going to change.  The kids started back at online school on Monday and today both schools sent out emails about yesterday's events. From Thing Two's middle school: From Thing One's high school:  Despite all this excellent advice, we haven't had any really deep heart-to-hearts with the kids as yet. We streamed ABC news all day yesterday and they would dip in and out, watch for a while, ask questions, and then go back to their homework or talking with friends. At first most of the footage was of people milling...

  I woke up this morning with a sense of dread. Not because I thought January 6 would become an infamous date in US history, but because I knew I faced the herculean task of putting away the Christmas decorations.  Around 10am I sat down to do the job and decided a good distraction would be to watch the live stream from the joint session of Congress to count and confirm the electoral college votes. This is the final stage in this crazy, long drawn-out American election process. I thought there might be some rousing speeches from Democrats, some reprehensible speeches from Republicans vying to win over the Trump base and become the next populist leader. Over the past week there has been a lot of speculation about whether Republican Senators and members of Congress would protest the votes - a common and allowed part of the process - and whether Vice President Pence had any authority to challenge or even change the vote count in favour of Trump. But despite lots of liberal hand w...